It was back in 1888 that John Boyd Dunlop, a Scottish vet living in Belfast, replaced the solid tyres on his son’s tricycle with thin rubber strips, glued together and inflated with air. It was the first step along the road of a brand that was to provide some of the world’s best known and widely known products.
Little did J.B. Dunlop realize at the time that in fashioning those makeshift tyres, he would revolutionize transport across the planet. How many of us still realize today, for instance, that we owe much of our driving pleasure and safety on the road to a little child on his trike?
Today, the pneumatic tyre is more than 120 years old. Dunlop celebrates its enduring success and the unique role that the brand has played in pioneering and enhancing the performance of tyres through the years.
The history of Dunlop is inextricably linked with the innovations introduced by the company. This history goes hand in hand with Dunlop’s commitment to motor-racing competition in all its forms, because the transfer of racing technology to everyday driving on the road is a genuine tradition that goes right back to the earliest days of the Dunlop tyre company. And over the course of more than 120 years, Dunlop has achieved exceptional results on the race track, including 34 victories in the famous Le Mans 24-Hour car endurance race.